Interim Russellville Police Chief Kyn Wilson is asking for $4,172 from the City Council, including $924.50 for his severance pay, days before he is to leave as police chief.

Wilson has also recently changed the duties of 20-year police veteran Tom McMillen, taking away his oversight responsibilities of the department's patrol division. Instead, McMillen is now in charge of the janitors, secretaries, warrants division, jail cells and is the department's public information officer.

Wilson will officially make his requests for funds at the Russellville City Council meeting Thursday night.

In regard to his severance pay, Wilson said he has earned 36.96 hours of vacation time and should be paid for that time, as full-time police officers are when they leave the department. He is requesting money from the department's "prisoner expenses" line item be transferred to pay for the severance pay.

Mayor Raye Turner appointed Wilson to serve as police chief until she hired a chief to replace Ron Stobaugh, who resigned April 30. Council members will determine if Wilson has served as a full city employee or as a temporary employee while ultimately deciding if he's entitled to the severance pay.

Page 9 of Russellville's personnel policy defines temporary employees as "seasonal and part-time employees who have been appointed a specific job lasting for a specified period of time." Temporary employees are not entitled to any of the "fringe benefits" that apply to permanent employees, including severance pay, according to the policy.

Wilson said he has served as a permanent employee and that he is not listed as interim police chief in any of his hiring documentation. His employee status form lists him as police chief, not interim police chief.

"I'm not a temporary employee," Wilson said. "The papers I have list me as a permanent employee."

Regarding the personnel changes, Wilson said McMillen's reassignment shouldn't be considered a demotion and did not reflect on his job performance.

"I took over patrol (division), having them answer directly to me," Wilson said. "All the operations end answers directly to me now. That's what I'm used to doing."

He said previously part of the department answered to him while another part answered to McMillen, operating against his leadership style of having control of the department.

"I've always been hands-on, and I wanted to have them answer to me so I could tell (future police chief James Bacon) that without going through anybody else I've been on both sides now."

He said Bacon could rearrange the management order of the department when he officially began his job, likely the first week of September. Bacon was hired by Turner to replace Stobaugh earlier this month.

McMillen has served as major and assistant police chief under the four previous police chiefs, including Lloyd Hartzell, Jim Wade, Stobaugh and Wilson. In those positions, he was in the patrol division's chain of command, reporting to the police chiefs after issues and reports were reported to him.

Wilson kept a similar structure in the patrol division, only taking McMillen out of the chain.

"I don't have any comment on that," McMillen said when asked about the job change. "I just do what's asked of me. Whatever chief is here, I'm here to serve them for the betterment of the department as a whole and the citizens of Russellville. I'm 100 percent committed to whoever is the chief of police, and I will ask all fellow officers to support our chief of police as well."

Other requests

Wilson is also asking the City Council for $1,246.50 so Bacon can report to work on Friday and be trained for six days leading up to when he takes over the department. Wilson said he would personally train Bacon during that time.

That money would also be transferred from the "prisoner expense" line item in the department's budget, according to Wilson's request to the council. Bacon would be paid for 48 working hours at almost $26 per hour.

An additional $2,001 has been requested by Wilson to pay Bacon for his educational benefits. He would be paid an additional $720 per year for having a college degree and $1,200 more annually for receiving certain training certificates, identical to other city employees with those qualifications.

Those amounts combined with his $49,909 base salary and his $2,184 in holiday pay, Bacon will receive approximately $54,014 annually as police chief.

Money for Bacon's educational and certificate pay would be paid for with money previously allocated for police training, according to Wilson's proposal to the City Council. The money was not previously budgeted because Stobaugh did not have a college degree.

Some of Wilson's proposals may surface at a city personnel committee meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday. The meeting, to be led by Alderman Tyrone Williamson, was not scheduled until this week.

Police employees cleared

All Russellville police employees have been cleared of the alleged theft of money at the police department.

Police chief Kyn Wilson said it was determined no police officers or employees were involved in the alleged theft of approximately $1,300 from the wallet of a man in police custody. The Arkansas State Police had been investigating the alleged theft since February, Wilson said.

The investigation file was turned over to Fifth Judicial District Prosecutor David Gibbons of Clarksville, who declined prosecution in the case.